"'At that time neither my father nor uncle had children, and being of different temperaments-my uncle a pious clergyman, and my father a broker with gambling tendencies-they soon parted and lost track of each other.
"'My parents emigrated to Canada and resided in Toronto for some years, in which city I was born. When I was about five years of age my mother died, and a short time later my father moved to Buffalo, N. Y., and entered into the brokerage business there. As I grew up, I was educated with the sole idea that the only purpose for which I had been created was to get money. At home I was taught by my father, in school through books, and at church by the pastor, that my success in life would be judged according to the amount of money I could accumulate. Was it any wonder, then, that I grew up to worship money as the real god, and to finally sell my soul for it? Oh, the terrible curse of money! And what an awful crime for parents to teach their children to love it! Had I not been taught from infancy to crave money, I might have become a useful member of the human family, and utilized my brain power for some worthy cause, instead of using it to scheme, cheat, steal, and even murder, in order that I might obtain it.
"Well, one day when I was about sixteen years old, my father, having just returned from one of his western trips, informed me that he had accidentally run across his brother James, the clergyman, in a little Kansas town named Eden. He said that my uncle told him that his wife had died sixteen years before, while giving birth to an only son, as they were crossing the Atlantic Ocean. Subsequently this son, who had been named John, ran away from home when he was but eleven years old, and had never been seen or heard of since. My father said that Uncle James had evidently brooded over the matter so long that he was broken down in health and could not live much longer. Then he showed me a picture of John Convert, when he was ten years old, and said that it looked exactly like me at that age. Finally, he told me that Cousin John was the sole heir to his grandfather's estate, and intimated that it would be a splendid stroke of business for me to go to Eden and pretend to be the long-lost son, and, after reaching the age of twenty-one, claim the estate as my own. My father told me that as soon as he heard my uncle's story, his well-trained financial brain had immediately formulated this excellent plan, and consequently he led my uncle to believe that he had no children of his own. He also ascertained the names of the different places where my uncle had lived during the past, and proposed that I should visit these localities and become acquainted with John's old playmates, in order to acquire a thorough knowledge of his youthful characteristics and any other useful information necessary to carry out the deception successfully.
"'Well, I entered into the plot with enthusiasm, and within six months presented myself to Uncle James as his son.
"'At first the scheme worked to perfection, and there was great rejoicing in the little town of Eden, where the Rev. James Convert was an honored and respected citizen of the community. But as time went by, my uncle apparently began to doubt my identity, for at times he would look at me long and searchingly, and then, with a sorrowful shake of the head, would remark that I lacked the character of the boy he had known as his son. So, fearing that he might ultimately discover the fraud and foil our plans, my father and I jointly murdered him by a slow process of poison. Then, with the necessary papers in my possession, and plenty of reputable witnesses from Eden to swear that I was the acknowledged son of the Rev. James Convert, at the age of twenty-one I took possession of my grandfather's vast estate in England.
"'But the fear of the rightful heir turning up sooner or later to expose the fraud began to haunt me, and, feeling my insecurity as long as he was alive, I began a long and tedious search for John Convert, which extended to all parts of the world, and covered a period of over twenty- three years, with the sole purpose of killing him if found.
"'In the meantime, fearing that my father might become conscience- stricken sooner or later, and make a confession of our crime to the authorities, I killed him also; and of the three murders, of which I am now responsible, I feel less concern over my father's death than of the other two; for was it not from him that I inherited the instincts to lie, cheat, steal, and murder for money, and by his instructions that these instincts were developed, instead of being discouraged from infancy?
"'Well, although I searched in nearly every nook and corner of the globe, I was unable to find even a clue to my missing cousin, but during that time a most peculiar affair happened, which resulted in my killing a third victim.
"'As you will remember, I met and became infatuated with you in Paris over three years ago, and then followed you to Chicago. After learning that you had secretly departed for Europe again in order to avoid me, I made up my mind to bother you no further, and taking a trip in the opposite direction I spent considerable time touring Australia, Africa and Asia. It was about two years after, while stopping at a fashionable hotel in Berlin that I discovered a young woman boarding there by the name of Arletta Fogg. So closely did she resemble you that I supposed it was you living there under an assumed name. At first when I accused her of being Arletta Wright, of Chicago, she denied it emphatically. But later, after learning that I was a millionaire, she pretended that I was right in my supposition and led me to believe that she had left home for an indefinite period owing to some family disagreement and was now traveling incognito. She permitted me to show her many attentions and gradually we became very good friends. So infatuated with her charms did I become that I was her abject slave. We went to Italy and Egypt together and I lavished money upon her without stint. I proposed honorable marriage to her a hundred times, but she always refused, saying that she preferred a free and independent life. We went to New York, and there I discovered that there were other men besides myself interested in her, and that she had two different places of residence. Several times I saw her in fashionable restaurants dining with other men, and following her one night into the Seraglio Apartments, I found that she occupied a suite of rooms there, of which I had known nothing. She was somewhat under the influence of liquor that night, and the information I secured from her was of such a kind that it almost drove me mad with jealousy, and in a fit of frenzy I stabbed her to death with her own toy dagger and left her lying on the bed. The next morning I quietly boarded the steamer for Europe, and keeping out of sight until away from land, I started to go to the purser's office to pay for my passage, when the very first person I met was you. You can well imagine how it startled me to see one whom I thought was dead. But after the first shock had passed away, and learning from the list that Arletta Wright was a passenger, I gave the whole matter thoughtful consideration and finally concluded that Arletta Fogg and Arletta Wright were two different persons and that the other was merely a beautiful adventuress and your double.
"'Well, you know the rest. You never would care for me, and as the great wealth I so wrongfully acquired cannot buy happiness of peace of mind, I shall ask God to forgive my sins and then blow out the brains that have become so useless.